


Rest day

by RubyEliz



Category: Free!
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, One Shot, That's it, a day in the life, just two idiots in love, no plot or point, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2020-04-05 04:09:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19040842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RubyEliz/pseuds/RubyEliz
Summary: The life of a pro swimmer isn’t easy. The majority of the time Rin and Haru work hard - they wake before dawn, train intensely, eat right and go to bed early. But once a week ‘rest day’ rolls around and they have a chance to just.... be.





	Rest day

Haru wakes slowly; the thread between sleep and consciousness stretching thinner and thinner until, finally, it snaps.  
  
Bright blue eyes flutter open, and before the room has had time to shift into focus fully - the colours still dancing into clarity - he registers red.  
  
He blinks the blur away and is greeted by a familiar shock of hair, mussed and falling over eyes that remain closed.  
  
Haru holds himself still.

He almost never wakes first - Rin has always been the more restless of the two - but this morning he is blessed with the rare gift of his still-sleeping boyfriend in his arms, head cradled in the crook of Haru’s outstretched arm, one hand curled over Haru’s heart, breath coming out in slow, rhythmic puffs.

He drinks it in. 

He still remembers how, at the beginning, back when he first invited Rin to share his bed, Rin would go to war each night in his dreams - sheets twisted in his hands as if they were assailants he needed to defend against. Haru would watch helpless as the night raged around him, unable to reach where sleep divided them - and so, even though Rin found his peace years ago, Haru is yet to tire of seeing him sleeping soundly.

Rin’s face takes on a new beauty in rest - in the day he’s so animated, a body in constant motion, that it’s sometimes easy among the beaming smiles and warm laughter to miss the quiet grace of his features. Haru knows this face almost better than he knows his own. Has it carved into his heart and has rendered its likeness in paper more times than he will admit even to Rin. High cheekbones, smooth pale skin dusted with freckles, the ever so slight upturn of his nose, the bow of his lips.

Haru feels it, that deep tug at some tender place under his ribs and fails to hold himself back from pressing a kiss to Rin’s temple.

Rin’s eyes open.

He always wakes like this, lurching from sleep to consciousness in a flicker of an instant. 

 _“Haru.”_  
  
His eyes crinkle up automatically on spotting Haru, lips curling up at the corners. Haru can’t resist but to press forward and capture them in a soft kiss.  
  
Rin sighs into it, then pulls away; a minute blur of confusion passing over his features. “Wait, what time is it?”  
  
“Early. And it’s Saturday. You can go back to sleep.” Haru murmurs against him.

Rin’s answer is joined by a warm palm sliding down over Haru’s chest and abs, cupping his hip.

“Later”

He rolls over to press against Haru, a hint of a smile before their lips meet. The kiss is sweet, mouths still a little slow with sleep but laced with the memory of the countless kisses that have come before and the promise of countless to come.

~~~

They make love slowly in the weak morning light, bodies sliding together unhurried, trading deep languid open-mouthed kisses and drawing out each other’s pleasure - a luxury they don’t often have the time or energy for during days busy with training. Then, after a perfunctory cleanup, they promptly fall back asleep curled up in each other’s arms.

~~~

The second time it is Rin who wakes first. He tries to untangle himself without waking Haru but the loss of heat is enough to cause him to stir, long lashes fluttering and a soft sleepy sound escaping his lips. 

“Stay,” Rin whispers with a quick kiss to his forehead. “I’ll make a start on food.”  
  
Haru stretches like a cat and luxuriates in the view of a very naked Rin trying to locate his sweatpants. The image stays on the back of his eyelids as he dozes, sheets smelling of sex and of Rin, the ghost of his touch still on Haru's skin and overplayed by the sounds of him busy in the kitchen.  
  
Soon the smell becomes too tempting and he gets bundled up in a worn and comfortable T-shirt that has now been his longer than it was ever Rin’s. He pads barefoot into the main room of their shared flat and is rewarded with the sight of Rin humming, his earbuds in and hips shifting slightly in time to the music as he cooks.  
  
Haru wraps his arm around him from behind and rests his chin on Rin’s shoulder so he can observe proceedings.  
  
There’s the usual pan of mackerel and one of eggs, but Rin appears to be experimenting with pancakes again, determined to find a version that is healthier and not too sweet.  
  
Rin barely tears his eyes away from what he is doing to land a quick kiss against Haru’s jaw, plucking out an earbud to offer to Haru.  
  
Haru kisses his shoulder in response then pulls away.  
  
“I’ll do toast?”  
  
“Mmmh. There’s tea brewing too.”  
  
They work around each other in a practised dance, Haru toasting bread, pouring drinks and chopping up some fruit for on the side while Rin finishes up at the cooker.  
  
They settle at their small table to eat, and as always Rin waits, fork poised in his hand, for Haru to take his first bite of mackerel then, as always, asks, ‘Good?’  
  
Haru can’t help but slightly roll his eyes at this daily exchange. “It’s perfect Rin. Like always.”  
  
Satisfied, Rin attacks his own plate with gusto. A small dribble of egg escapes his lips and Haru leans over to catch it with his thumb before licking it up.  
  
“So messy Rin.” He murmurs.  
  
“But delicious, right?”  
  
“Delicious.” Haru agrees

~~~

After their breakfast-brunch-lunch combo, they split dishes and Rin has a quick, hot, shower before leaving Haru to settle into a long cool bath.

He reads the paper while he waits, revelling inwardly at the comfortable domesticity of their morning, and when Haru finally reemerges and slumps down into the seat next to him, he gestures to the arts section. 

“Hey, wanna watch a movie today? It’s been a while.”

Haru nods his agreement, still a little water-drunk.

“Great wanna go out? I can check listings. Or we can always just rent something here?”  
  
Haru thinks it over. But not for long.

“Let’s stay here. I’d rather not share you today.” He decides with a smile and a kiss.

He feels Rin’s lips curl into an answering smile beneath his own and strong arms sneak around his waist, Rin pulling Haru into his lap.  
  
“I’m all yours. Always.” He whispers against Haru’s mouth before stealing another kiss.  
  
“Urgh. Too. Soppy” Haru declares between more kisses.

“You love it.”

“I love _you_.”

Rin practically glows.

~~~

The movie Rin picks is one they’ve seen a million times before but Haru doesn’t mind. He likes knowing which parts will make Rin laugh and at which exact scene Rin’s eyes will start to mist and tear.  
  
Rin watches rapt, reacting as if it’s the first time. Haru dozes off once or twice in his arms but then he’s never been hugely into movies themselves. Watching movies with Rin is another matter entirely and he enjoys each and every one of the absent-minded touches Rin offers - the hand that occasionally strokes against his hip, the soft press of lips at the sensitive skin just behind his ear.

When the credits roll, they stay cuddled together, whiling away some time with soft kisses and slow touches. Rin is sold and warm under Haru’s hands, and Haru feels himself let go of the strains of the week - the relentless schedules, the gruelling workouts, the constantly being told where he needs to be and what he should be eating - and just luxuriate in the fact he always has this calm to come home to, to tune out all that noise.

Haru feels indescribably lucky for this.

After all, there was a time in his life when the quietness in which he lived was one of absence - his parents, his grandmother, his hopes for the future, Rin...

And then Rin had returned and filled that absence with noise and colour and life and, finally, love.

So now when there is quiet it is in the shape of contentment. Forged by peace and trust and that same love that is steadfast throughout the many forms it has taken between them.

~~~

By late afternoon, despite his best distraction techniques, Haru can see Rin is starting to get a little antsy.

Since first joining the national team he’s become a lot better at taking his rest seriously, but Haru can tell the urge to move - to expel some of his endless energy - is still there. 

“Walk round the loop?” He asks, referring to their morning run route. Rin smiles gratefully.

~~~

They walk slowly hand in hand, sometimes talking, often not. People in their neighbourhood know them well enough by now that they don’t think twice about the obvious intimacy between them (after all, it's not like there is much point trying to hide what they are to one another after the incident at the Tokyo Olympics when Haru ‘accidentally’ kissed Rin in front of everyone for taking gold).

As the sun starts to dip, they stop by their local supermarket to pick out a few fresh vegetables, some steak for Rin and to stock up on mackerel for Haru.

Dinner is a simple affair. They grill their respective proteins, served with fresh stir-fried greens, rice and miso on the side, and split a single glass of red wine.

After, cleaning up in the kitchen quickly turns to kissing in the kitchen. 

And sure, it starts out as an innocent enough make out session at first, but then Rin twists that clever tongue of his in a way he knows makes Haru weak and their kisses quickly turn deeper, almost needy. Haru presses forward, pinning Rin against the counter and Rin groans into his mouth.  
  
“Rin...”  
“Bedroom?”  
  
Haru’s answer is a bruising kiss and they half stumble to their bed, tugging at each other’s clothes along the way so that they tumble to the sheets half undone already.  
  
They know each other's bodies so well now that they move together as natural as breathing.

And yet, even after all this time, the heat and the urgency feels nothing short of overwhelming; the raw want they feel for each other having nothing to do with novelty. 

 ~~~

Once they are both spent, sleepy and satisfied they clean each other off, laughing and tussling a little in the bathroom before brushing their teeth side by side and pottering about packing kit bags and double checking schedules for the week. Then, finally, they curl up together in fresh bedding, setting an aggressivly early alarm and turning down the lights.

Heavy with contentment, Haru gives a slow, almost shy smile.

“You’re getting much better at it you know.”

“At what?”

“Resting. Doing nothing for a day.”

Rin’s face in the dark splits into a sleepy smile. “S’not nothing. Spending the day with you is _everything_ to me.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was a little challenge I set myself as I have about five fairly long WIPs, but am having mega writer's block and I wonder if it might be because they are all pretty angsty. 
> 
> So here is a quick, silly, soppy, self-indulgently soft attempt at not being angsty. Happy Friday!
> 
> Now wish me luck trying to finish writing some PAIN ;)


End file.
